International electronic payments firm MasterCard plans to issue three million debit cards under its partnership with Econet Wireless’ mobile money system, EcoCash.

EcoCash has more than 3.5 million subscribers and executives at MasterCard and Econet are hoping that at least three million of these users will be interested in using the debit card.

Econet and MasterCard launched the debit card on Wednesday.

Carlton Goredema, representative for MasterCard in Southern Africa, said the company is set to immediately “issue three million cards in Zimbabwe” and encouraged the speedy shift from cash to electronic payments.

However, Econet Wireless executives refused to disclose how much the exercise is costing the company to have the cards issued by MasterCard.

“Let’s move to electronic payments and encourage our customers that when they purchase goods in shops and when they travel that they carry their card,” said Goredema.

Goredema said “transactions are immediately translated into Rands or the Pound” if the client is carrying out transactions while travelling or settled in another country.

“We do apply daily exchange rates for various countries and currencies,” he noted.

Transactions on the EcoCash system have now soared above $400 million each month, said Econet Wireless chief executive officer, Douglas Mboweni.

He said the EcoCash and MasterCard debit card is accessible to everyone seeking to avoid the risks associated with carrying and transacting using cash.

Econet unveiled its debit card weeks after Zimbabwe’s number two mobile network Telecel launched a credit card offering for its Telecash mobile money users.